


The Tiger Who Changed His Stripes

by ishouldwritethatdown



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Hijinks & Shenanigans with the Be Gay Do Crimes Squad, M/M, Minor Injuries, Pining, Shocking Bouts of Character Development, it's 600 words dude idk what i can say except describing the whole plot, post-Soul of the People
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 16:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17707445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishouldwritethatdown/pseuds/ishouldwritethatdown
Summary: It's fine that Juno isn't talking to him. In fact, it's better this way. Peter can't have his relationship (ex-relationship) with the newest member of their team affect his job. That just wouldn't be professional - and Buddy did hire a professional.





	The Tiger Who Changed His Stripes

Oh, now he’s being quite ridiculous.

It’s been months. Almost a year, now. He should be over it, over _him_. But Peter keeps catching himself looking at the sharp lines that shape Juno’s face, at the way he swivels his head to keep his good eye on the action. The way the corner of his mouth quirks up with the start of a sarcastic comment every time Jet says anything, and how he keeps it silent for the moment, a monologue running perpetually behind his eyes.

“Four and three-quarters, boss!” Rita’s voice came alive in their comms. Peter instinctively glanced at the four o’clock position, but Juno turned the other way.

The shooter on his nine o’clock hadn’t even hit the floor before he was responding, “Rita, I told you, that’s not how the clock system works.”

“Well you got ‘em, din’cha?”

Juno played the role of action hero all too well, so well that he often seemed to get lost in the part. He had to wonder when Buddy and the rest would see the extent of his self-sacrificial tendencies – how far he’d go to save the day, and what it tended to do to the people around him. Dramatic irony, that’s what that was.

Peter snapped himself out of it. He had to stop thinking about Juno; he had a job to do. He couldn’t be falling head-over-heels for sharpshooting Hyperion ladies any more than he could be turning back time. It was clear from the last week of Juno failing to confront him that he had no intention of addressing their last meeting, and that was just fine. They had both moved on, and now they were both here and that was _fine_.

“Six-thirty, Mista Steel, _six thirty_!” cried Rita.

He watched Juno twist to take the shot—but in his haste he’d turned with the wrong side, and there was no way he was going to get a good scope in time. Peter had seen the resigned look on his face before, just a degree away from _welcoming_ , and in that split second he was preparing an explanation to Buddy for how they’d managed to get Juno shot on their very first operation.

But then Juno did something unthinkable; he dodged.

Or he tried to, at least. For a moment Peter thought he must have tripped or some other force must have intervened, but no—the duck of his head and lurch out of the way was deliberate. The blast grazed his side and he dropped onto his knee, but he didn’t let that stop him twisting around and firing back, incapacitating the thug instantly.

“Juno,” Peter said, and before he knew it he was sliding in beside him to support his shoulder while he dabbed the wound and winced.

“Mista Steel?!”

“I’m fine, Rita,” he said, “the sucker barely grazed me.”

Peter was shocked to find that that was the absolute truth. This Juno was a damn sight away from the one who’d said _I’m fine_ while spitting blood and leaning against the wall of a Martian tomb to keep from collapsing of dizziness.

Suddenly he realised how close their faces were – close enough to count his freckles. Close enough to see the sappy, searching look in his eyes, the one asking if this was okay, if they were okay, if they were going to talk about it. He’d been waiting for _him_.

Peter put his forehead against Juno’s and let out a breathy laugh, looking down. “Oh, I’ve been a fool,” he muttered. He caught Juno’s smirk and met his eyes again.

“Bet I’ve been a bigger one,” he challenged. He tucked an arm around Peter’s shoulder and grunted as he tried to get up. “How about we talk about it when we’re out of the immediate line of fire,” he suggested. There was an apology already laced through his eyes that he was eager to hear.

Peter had to laugh. “Oh, darling. What on Titan have you done with the real Juno Steel?”

**Author's Note:**

> technically speaking this was a prompt about forehead touches. but i was thinking about how far Juno's come since he saw Peter last, and how their being on the same team again might play out. so here you go!


End file.
